View of the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt, New York Fear of setbacks for the global economy from the new Omikron corona variant is causing prices on Wall Street to decline again. A warning from the vaccine manufacturer Moderna, whose boss sees the current vaccine against the omicron variant of the coronavirus as less effective, caused concern.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals took the same line: The US pharmaceutical company, which is developing a drug against Covid, warned that its antibody therapy and comparable agents could also be less effective against the omicron variant.
The Dow Jones index of standard values fell by just under one percent to 34,836 points when it opened on Tuesday. The broader S&P 500 opened 0.7 percent weaker at 4624 meters. The index of the technology exchange Nasdaq fell 0.4 percent to 15,719 points. After the break at the start of the week, the uncertainty surrounding Omikron hit the stock markets worldwide again on Tuesday.
“It is clear: the pandemic is not over yet,” said independent capital market advisor Ed Yardeni in a webinar on Monday. “We have to be prepared for the fact that we will have to live with her for quite a while.” Nevertheless, Yardeni is still optimistic about the situation on the markets. For the end of the year he expects the leading index S&P 500 to stand at 4800 points, an increase of a good three percent. Yardeni believes the S&P 500 could end 2022 at 5200 points.
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The capital market expert does not assume that the Omikron variant will cause major upheavals in the economy. “We’ll learn to deal with it,” he clarified. He also expects the Fed to continue tapering bond purchases as planned. He expects two rate hikes for 2022.
Biden: Don’t panic about Omicron
The US job market is strong. New dates for November will be published on Friday. “Unemployment will decrease significantly,” believes Yardeni. The Americans would push back into the job market. “And there are many vacancies.”
The fear of falling demand in view of the corona pandemic also hit the oil price, which fell by around four percent. As a result, energy companies also came under pressure. Occidental Petroleum’s shares lost more than two percent.
Look at individual values
Moderna, Pfizer: Vaccine manufacturer stocks were under particular scrutiny today. Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, told the Financial Times that he expected existing vaccines against the Omikron variant to be less effective. According to Oxford University, there is still no evidence of this. The Moderna share falls by more than six percent. The Biontech share is also down more than six percent. Pfizer shares gained 1.5 percent, Novavax shares rose more than two percent.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals: Regeneron’s shares fell 0.1 percent after the company said its Covid-19 drugs may be less effective against the Omikron variant of Covid. Mutations in the variant would suggest that immunity might be reduced.
First Wave Biopharma: Stocks shot up around a third after the drug company made progress on a study to develop a drug to treat Covid-19.
Meta: The meta-share falls by almost one percent. A UK regulator asked the company to sell the Giphy platform. Meta’s acquisition of Giphy would reduce competition between social media platforms.
Twitter, Square: Twitter and Square shares rose 1.5 and 0.3 percent, respectively. One day after Jack Dorsey announced his resignation as CEO of Twitter. Dorsey was the chief executive of the social media platform and digital payments company. Bank of America upgraded Square from “underperform” to “neutral” and reiterated a buy rating for Twitter.
Solar Edge Technologies: The share lost 2.2 percent. Morgan Stanley had downgraded the stock from “overweight” to “equally weighted”.
Beyond Meat, Oatly: The shares of the meat alternative manufacturer Beyond Meat and the plant-based dairy company Oatly fell by more than three and six percent respectively at the start of the stock market. HSBC had downgraded the shares. In a report on the alternative protein market, HSBC said, “With the prospect of increased competition, the growth we forecast will not be enough for many participants to meet their lofty growth targets.”
Travel companies: American Airlines shares lost around two percent. The cruise companies Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line lost between one and two percent.
More: Twitter boss Jack Dorsey resigns – shares skyrocket